


Refraction

by rarmaster



Series: She's Someone I'll Never Be [6]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: 0.2 spoilers, Gen, it's not graphic At All so i didn't file it under the archive warning but there is Fightin, warning for: a battle sequence??
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-03
Updated: 2017-02-03
Packaged: 2018-09-21 17:30:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9559700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rarmaster/pseuds/rarmaster
Summary: Quaxa is tasked to take down the "imposter" who has recently destroyed all the Organization members stationed in Castle Oblivion.Or: AU (of... an AU...) where Aqua gets out of the Realm of Darkness early.





	

**Author's Note:**

> the Aqua side is part of something bigger, an AU where where Kairi saves her at the end of 0.2/KH1 because Reasons. (Listen there could have been time where Destiny Islands overlapped between the two realms and Kairi could have reached her, Listen,) - Also Aqua (with Kairi in tow) fucks up the plot of CoM halfway through, but idfk when I'm going to write all this?? Eventually, for sure, but I can't promise it'll be soon. I'll let everyone here know when I start writing for the bigger Aqua AU, though.
> 
> "Why did you start with the Repliqua portion??" BECAUSE I LOVE HER,
> 
> (Shout-out to my friend aera, w/o whom neither Repliqua nor this fic would exist.)

Quaxa made her way up the long trek to the balcony at the top of the castle that she and Xemnas shared so much time on, an uneasiness beating in her chest with every step. All things considered, it hadn’t been a very great day. The Dusks had just reported that those who had been set to Castle Oblivion were dead, all struck down by the same unknown person. Roxas was devastated to hear about Axel. Quaxa herself had been unsettled all day.

To think that six members had been struck down in such a short amount of time… It made her shiver to think about.

When she reached the balcony, Xemnas was already there—unsurprising. He was gripping the railing tightly, and for the first time in as long as Quaxa had known him, there were faint lines of distress on his face. Taking a deep breath, Quaxa stepped in beside him. She didn’t lean on the railing with him, like she might have any other day. She just stood there. Hesitant.

“Is… Is something wrong?” she asked him. She knew there was, and she could probably wager a pretty good guess on _what_ it was, too. But there was no harm in asking. She wasn’t sure how else to approach this conversation, anyway.

Xemnas sent a glance at her, but only a glance. “You have heard about what happened in Castle Oblivion, haven’t you?” he asked. There was a bitter smile on his lips.

“Yes. I have.”

“Regrettable, really,” Xemnas sighed to himself. “They were such fine members.”

“Yes, they… were,” Quaxa agreed, though with a bit of uncertainty. She hadn’t really known any of them well. She’d known Vexen, a bit—he’d been there when Xemnas woke her up, and he’d fussed over her for a few days after, for no reason she could really tell. She’d spent some time with Larxene, too, and while they had a few differing opinions, overall Larxene had been good company. They were the only two she really knew, though.

Xemnas did not interrupt her during her musings. He still appeared distressed.

Quaxa cleared her throat.

“Is… there anything I can do to help?” she offered. It seemed like a silly thing to offer, because she doubted there really was, but. It felt like the right thing to do.

Amazingly, for a moment, Xemnas looked even _more_ distressed. His hands tightened on the railing, and his teeth clenched. And then… He relaxed. It was so sudden and so complete Quaxa wondered if he’d even been upset before, or if she had imagined it.

“Actually, there is something you could do.” Xemnas turned all the way towards her, only one hand remaining on the railing. “The person who killed our comrades in Castle Oblivion is an imposter,” he said, with a severity in his voice. Then he smiled. “It would put my heart at ease to know her fate was in the hands of someone I could trust.”

Quaxa jolted, as the weight of his words settled in.

“You’re asking me… to kill her?”

“Honestly, you might be the only one of us who stands a chance,” Xemnas said.

Quaxa blinked a few times, taken aback. She wasn’t sure she was as confident in her own abilities. She knew she was powerful, but Heartless—even large ones, even hordes of them—were _very_ different from people. And this person had taken down a third of the Organization in the span of a day, single-handedly.

But…

Xemnas trusted her.

And the least she could do was try.

Quaxa nodded.

“Alright,” she said. “I’ll do it.”

 

 

Xemnas told her that the imposter had last been spotted around Twilight Town, so Quaxa headed there to complete her mission. She was still a little nervous— _As nervous as a Nobody can be, anyway,_ she laughed to herself—but she tried not to feel it. She was stronger than she gave herself credit for. She could do this.

So Quaxa searched Twilight Town, keeping her eyes peeled for someone in a black coat that she did not recognize. She searched every nook and cranny she could think of, too, just in case. The imposter was nowhere to be found.

(There were plenty of Heartless, though. Quaxa tried not to spend too long defeating them, but… habit was habit.)

She was making her way through Tram Common for the third time when she spotted a flash of blue out of the corner of her eye. Intrigued by the color—it was the same as her own hair—Quaxa turned to see what it was.

She stopped dead in her tracks.

And so did the woman she was staring at.

 _Hey,_ was Quaxa’s first thought. _That’s my face?_

And then: _Xemnas… CAN’T have meant…?_

And then the woman was leveling a Keyblade at her.

Quaxa cried out in shock as she was engulfed in fire and pain.

 

 

Alarm bells were ringing in Aqua’s head. She lowered Master’s Defender a fraction of an inch, eyes strained to stay on her phantom. ( _But this wasn’t the Realm of Darkness, and that wasn’t—But if it wasn’t her phantom, then what WAS it?_ ) The woman lay on the ground, thrown back from the blast. She was pushing herself up and pressing a Cure into her skin. ( _If Aqua had been thinking clearly, she would have remembered her phantom had never done that. If she’d been thinking clearly, she’d have realized this woman she was facing cried out in surprise, not anger, when struck_.)

But—

 _Not again._ The thought reverberated firmly within Aqua’s mind. _I won’t put up with her again!_

There was a tightness pulling in her muscles, as well as an anxiety thrumming in her veins. Aqua pulled at the power in her and released it as another devastating blast of Firaga before the woman could get back up.

( _She was being unfair, and she knew that. But she couldn’t banish the echoing taunts from of her head, nor the fear from her stomach._ )

The woman blocked this Firaga with a Reflect. When the Firaga cleared, the woman was on her feet. She made as if to summon a Keyblade.

Something stirred in Aqua’s chest.

Rainfell appeared in the woman’s hand.

Aqua froze, eyes wide, as she stared at the Keyblade— _her_ Keyblade. The sight of it made her ache.

She knew she’d given it up to save Terra, but… This was insulting _._ Not only did this woman have her face, but she had her _Keyblade_? Despair and anger both boiled in Aqua’s gut. She swiped a hand through the air.

“Tell me where you got that!” she demanded.

The woman looked startled. She clutched Rainfell in both hands, defensively.

“What?”

“That Keyblade!” Aqua clarified, burning. “ _My_ Keyblade!”

The woman took a step back. “I- I don’t know what you’re—”

Aqua growled. She dismissed Master’s Defender, then held out her right hand before her. Summoning her will and all her desire, she called Rainfell to her. For a breath, it seemed to resist. But then she felt its warmth, its familiar shape in the palm of her hand.

Had Aqua not been so furious, she might have cried tears of joy.

( _Master’s Defender had been fine, for all those years. But it was clunky, and it didn’t fit right in her hand._ )

“H- _Hey!_ ” the woman shouted, voice pitching upwards slightly, as if with fear. “How did you—!?”

“It’s. _Mine,_ ” Aqua said, a bitter pride swelling within her chest. It felt so good to hold Rainfell again. She readied it beside her. “Now tell me who you are.”

“I…” The woman hesitated. And then she straightened, the confusion on her face turning into determination. As she narrowed her eyes a thrill of unease rang in Aqua’s heart. To see that look on her own face brought back bad memories. “Are you the one who killed the members of Organization 13 stationed in Castle Oblivion?” the woman asked.

“They were in my _home_ ,” Aqua replied, icily. (And to say nothing of what they’d been _doing_ there! It would be ages before they could fix Sora’s memory, and that didn’t even touch the way Namine’d been treated—)

The woman before her scrunched up her face.

“Castle Oblivion’s your _home_?”

“It used to be.” Aqua’s answer was sharp, and she glared hard. “Are you with this… ‘Organization 13’?”

The woman hesitated, a second. But she nodded.

“Yes,” she said. “I am.”

Aqua raised her Keyblade, pulling at the magic in her veins.

“Then I’m sorry.”

She started with Blizzaga this time, a large crystal of it bursting forth in the air next to the woman. The woman jumped to the side and countered with a Firaga, resulting in a streak of water that fell to the ground. Aqua splashed through it unhindered, bringing Rainfell up through in an arc.

The woman with her face fought well, even without a Keyblade. She had a grasp on magic that easily rivaled Aqua’s own, and was quick on her feet. She was outmatched, though. There was no question in that.

Aqua was jumping back, preparing the Prism Rain that would likely finish the woman off, when two figures jumped in front of her.

The shape of Ven’s hair made Aqua stop on reflex. The sight of Ven’s image mirrored made her vision blur around the edges.

“V- _Ven_?” Aqua asked, as she let herself drop back to the ground. She stumbled as she did so. He should be asleep, so why was he—Why were there _two_ of him.

“PLEASE DON’T HURT HER?” the Ven on her left said. He looked normal.

“WHO EVEN ARE YOU!?” shouted the Ven on her right. He was in one of those black cloaks, and stood a little forward, one arm out to protect those behind him.

Aqua’s mouth worked, but no sound came out. Her knees felt weak.

“Quaxa? Quaxa are you okay,” said the normal Ven, crouching next to the woman on the ground. A low-level Cure came from his fingertips, even as the woman pushed him off.

“Yeah, I’m-” She seemed to struggle with the words. “I’m…”

“Who _is_ this!?” the Ven in the cloak demanded. His face was all scrunched up, teeth bared in anger. It was a strange look to see on him. ( _The image of Vanitas’s golden eyes on Ven’s face played in Aqua’s mind for a moment, but even that wasn’t right._ )

“Why does she look like you, Quaxa?” said the other Ven. “Do you know?”

“Why were you two fighting? What’s going on!”

Aqua’s legs gave way beneath her, and she fell back, sitting with a _thwump_ on the ground. Her vision blurred dizzyingly. Alarm bells sounded through a fog in her mind. This… _was_ the Realm of Light, wasn’t it? She knew it was—or, that it was supposed to be—but if it was, then why was her mind playing tricks on her like this? Why was she seeing these apparitions before her?

Maybe seeing a copy of herself could be explained (Rainfell was real, after all) but Ven? He was supposed to be asleep. And why were there _two_ of him, acting like they didn’t know her? It had to be some trick by the darkness—

( _No. That wasn’t true. But—_ )

The ground beneath her felt like ice. The air on her skin felt bitter and cold. She heard voices, but it was like listening through water. She thought she heard Ven ask if she was okay. She couldn’t remember if she responded.

The visions she saw—were they visions? Were they real? ( _If they were real, then how?_ )—left after a few minutes. That was better than a blade to the throat, for sure. Better than the illusion running its typical course. Now she just had to get moving, before the Heartless—

But there were no Heartless. Or, not the kind she was used to.

This wasn’t the Realm of Darkness. There was the faint warmth of sunlight on her skin. A real breeze on her cheeks. The weight of Rainfell still sitting in her palm… That brought breath properly into Aqua’s lungs again.

She gripped the blade a little tighter. A shape she’d never thought she’d feel again. She held it up before her, drinking in the familiar blues with her eyes, running her fingertips across cool metal. She was holding Rainfell again, after ten long years.

Feeling flooded back to Aqua— _proper_ feeling, instead of a cold that didn’t exist.

She was holding Rainfell. This wasn’t the Realm of Darkness. She was safe. She was fine.

But…

If she was holding Rainfell, then that meant… that was real. That woman who looked like her, and the two kids who looked like Ven. They were real.

And if they were real…

_Who were they?_

 

 

Quaxa forced air in an out of her lungs as Roxas and Xion pulled her away. It hurt, a bit, to breathe. She was pressing Curagas into her skin, though, and they were slowly making the pain ebb away. That was really all she could ask.

Roxas and Xion only got her as far as an alcove between some stores and some houses before they stopped, letting her sink to the ground and lean up against a wall. The Curagas were helping but… Sitting down was nice.

“I don’t think she’ll follow us,” Roxas said, leaning out into the main street to check.

Quaxa doubted it too, given the way they’d left the woman. Seeing that—seeing _her face,_ like that—made Quaxa uneasy, but…

( _Actually, there was a lot about the situation that stirred distorted memory fragments within her, fragments that made her feel sick. Why did the words “no one can save you” echo in her ears, and why did they make her stomach clench so?_ )

“Quaxa,” Xion said, with a tone that suggested she was repeating herself. She was kneeling next to Quaxa.

“Mm? Sorry.” Quaxa looked up at her. There was a crease of worry in Xion’s brow, but otherwise she just looked confused.

“Who _was_ that?” Xion asked.

Quaxa shook her head. “I don’t know,” she answered, truthfully. (The name _Aqua_ rang in her mind, but a part of her seemed certain that was her own name? Or, that it _had_ been, anyway.)

“Hmm…” Xion hummed to herself, lowering her head and tapping at her chin. Roxas came over to join them, kneeling next to Xion. “Maybe she’s your Somebody?” Xion offered.

Roxas scowled before Quaxa could say a word. “C’mon, Xion, I don’t think it works like that,” he scoffed, pushing her in the shoulder. She sent a glare like death at him.

“I’m grasping at straws here, Roxas!”

“We’re only Nobodies because our Somebodies stopped existing,” Roxas argued. “If Quaxa’s Somebody was walking around, then Quaxa wouldn’t be!”

“You don’t know that!”

“That’s like _literally_ the only thing there is to know about Nobodies!”

Quaxa only half-listened to them. She’d remembered something that had happened during the fight, something that brought a pit to her gut much stronger than the one from the memory fragments. She reached out a hand before her, and she called to her Keyblade.

It didn’t come.

There wasn’t even a stirring in her chest.

Quaxa let her hand fall, and she sighed deeply.

“Well, regardless of who she was, we have a problem,” she said. “Or… _I_ have a problem.”

Roxas and Xion stopped their arguing to look at her, both worried.

“She stole my Keyblade.”

Roxas and Xion both jolted.

“She- _what!?_ ” Roxas yelped.

Quaxa shrugged. “She… said it was hers.” (She wasn’t sure if she believed that, or not.)

“See!” Xion said, wagging a finger at Roxas. “See, _Somebody,_ I’m tellin’ you!”

“THAT DOESN’T MAKE ANY SENSE!”

Roxas, red-faced and throwing his arms up in the air, angled himself towards Xion. Xion just pushed him out of her face. “Well, never mind that,” she said over him. Sensing her shift in tone, he shut up. Xion’s brow furrowed as she looked at Quaxa again. “Quaxa…” she said, slowly. “Without your Keyblade…”

She didn’t seem to want to finish.

Quaxa nodded.

“I know.”

The Keyblade was the only thing that let her collect hearts. Without it, what was her purpose within the Organization? She wasn’t sure.

Xion chewed at her lip, looking distressed. Roxas looked a little lost, too.

“Well, we’ll just…” he started, slowly, then picked up traction as he became more sure, “We’ll just give you one of ours!”

“What?” Quaxa stared at him, and once she was sure he meant it, she narrowed her eyes. “ _No_ ,” she told him, stern.

“Come on, Quaxa, he’s right,” Xion said. “ _You’re_ the one who’s getting all the hearts, not us. If any one of us needs the Keyblade, it’s you.”

They both sounded so sincere, and it caused a pang in Quaxa’s chest. She smiled fondly—sadly—at the both of them. Slowly, because it still hurt a bit to move, she reached out both hands to ruffle their hair. Roxas pouted. Xion laughed wearily.

“I’m pretty sure Keyblades don’t work like that,” she said as gently as she could. “But I appreciate it.”

In unison, Roxas and Xion sighed. Quaxa pulled her hands back. It made her feel warm to see them so upset for her sake. She wished she could let them help her, but one of them giving up their Keyblade wasn’t the answer. She just… wasn’t sure what was.

“Then we’ll go get yours back,” Xion said, suddenly.

Quaxa blinked at her. “What?”

“Your Keyblade. We’ll go get it back!”

Xion brightened as she said this, and Roxas did too.

“Yeah!” he agreed.

“No, no,” Quaxa said quickly, waving her hands in front of her. “That’s not a good idea either. That woman—I barely stood a chance against her, and I’m not so sure having a Keyblade would make a difference!” She wasn’t sure it’d be any use, either. If the Keyblade could be taken right out of her hands like that once, it could happen again.

Roxas just grinned confidently. “Three on one!” he argued. “We can take her!”

Xion nodded aggressively.

“ _No!_ ” Quaxa said. This wasn’t the answer either.

Roxas deflated like a balloon. So did Xion, for a moment, but then her face scrunched up in a scowl. She swiped a hand through the air.

“Then what _are_ you gonna do, Quaxa?” she demanded.

Quaxa thought about it a moment, and then she shrugged.

“I’ll just tell Xemnas,” she said.

Predictably, Xion and Roxas both jolted with this, surprise and fear passing their faces. (Funny, how expressive they were, when they didn’t have hearts either…) “YOU CAN’T TELL HIM!” Roxas shouted, with anger, just as Xion yelled “HE’LL TURN YOU INTO A DUSK!!”, her voice pitched upwards with horror.

Quaxa laughed a little bit. “I… don’t think that’s true,” she said. Or, she hoped it wasn’t true, anyway. The reputation for what would happen if you displeased Xemnas was outstanding, but… Things were different, between her and Xemnas. He’d give her a chance. She knew he would.

Roxas and Xion wouldn’t believe her, no matter what she said, but eventually they gave up trying to talk her out of it, and the three of them returned to the World that Never Was.

 

 

Things did not go as well as Quaxa hoped.

“Xemnas, _please_!” she begged. The two of them stood on the balcony again, Xemnas gripping the railing with both hands, hunched over and shoulders shaking. “Who _was_ she?”

Xemnas turned his head away sharply, denying her attempts to look him in the eye.

“I don’t know,” he said.

Quaxa felt her lips draw back, and she took a step towards him. “Yes you _do!_ I know you do.” He turned further away. “Why did you send me after her, Xemnas? Why does she look like me?”

Xemnas didn’t answer.

He didn’t for long enough that Quaxa wasn’t sure he was going to at all.

 _Fine then,_ she thought with a huff. She spun on her heel, moving for the exit.

“It was a mistake to send you after her,” Xemnas said, before she got there. She couldn’t read the tone in his voice—wasn’t sure if he was being condescending, or if that actually _was_ regret she heard. “I’m sorry.”

Quaxa stopped. She turned back around (he still wasn’t facing her, though he appeared to be hunched over further) and sighed. They were Nobodies, so it wasn’t like she could expect him to display emotions properly. It didn’t make her any less frustrated about the lack of answers she had, but… Maybe she shouldn’t be so harsh on him. If he wasn’t telling her, then there had to be a reason for it.

“No, it’s alright,” she told him, trying to be more gentle this time. “I’m fine. I didn’t get hurt too badly…” That wasn’t true, but if he got to lie, so did she. And anyway, her wounds were nothing a few Cures hadn’t taken care of, even if her side was still sore.

“That’s good, then,” Xemnas said, voice like a whisper.

Quaxa hesitated here. She still had to tell him… “But, um,” she began. She licked her lips. She knew that Roxas and Xion were wrong, and that Xemnas _wasn’t_ going to turn her into a Dusk for this, but it still wasn’t easy to say. Thinking about it, and what she lost, made her uneasy at best. “There is another, well… _slight_ problem,” she said.

“Yes?”

Xemnas didn’t move, didn’t even look up.

Quaxa swallowed.

“She… She took my Keyblade.”

There was a thickness in the air, as the words settled in. Then Xemnas _did_ move, turning to look at her for the first time this entire conversation. His eyes were wide.

“I don’t know how,” Quaxa continued. “But- She called it to her, right out of my hands. And I can’t call it back.” She tried reaching for it in her mind even now, but still she could not feel it. “I’m sorry. I really- There was nothing I could do, and now I’m not sure what—”

“There is only one thing _to_ do,” Xemnas said, cutting her off.

“What?”

“You have to get the Keyblade back.”

Quaxa blinked a few times. Had she… heard him right? She can’t have…

“I- I’m sorry?” she stammered.

Xemnas towered over her. Something hostile burned in his eyes, and his mouth twisted into something cruel.“You heard me, Quaxa. I don’t want to see you back here until you have a Keyblade again.”

Quaxa staggered back. It felt like the air had been knocked out of her lungs, and her chest was tight. How could he ask this of her? How could he hand her this—a mission she couldn’t possibly complete? Did their friendship mean nothing? ( _Was it even a friendship, or had she just been selfishly, stupidly wishing…?_ )

“Now, hang on, surely there’s another—”

Xemnas didn’t give her a chance to finish. He took another step towards her, hand raised to—what? Strike her? Throw her out?

“ _Go!_ ” he roared.

Quaxa did.

What else was she supposed to do?

 


End file.
